Google launches Calico, an anti-aging company led by an Apple executive

The "California Life Company" will apply Google's 10x thinking to healthcare.

Google is taking another moonshot and getting into healthcare research, and they're doing it with the help of an extremely high-ranking Apple employee.

Today Google announced it's launching "Calico," a company focused on "health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases." The initiative will be a long term "moonshot" project involving healthcare and biotechnology (Google basically wants to stop you from dying).

Since the company just launched, there aren't many details yet. The most interesting news is that the man running it is Art Levinson, the current chairman of both Genentech, another biotech company, and Apple. Yes, that Apple. Tim Cook even has a quote in the press release:

For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.

Levinson will keep his Chairman roles at Genetech and Apple while running Calico. That latter position he took after the death of Steve Jobs. According the Levinson, who just started up a Google+ page, "Calico" is an abbreviation for the "California Life Company."

As healthcare and technology become more and more intertwined, expect more crossover projects like this. Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, recently started his own anti-aging company called "The Ellison Medical Foundation." There are a lot of very rich people out there that are getting older, and while it may seem like science fiction, "stopping death" is getting more and more money thrown at it. Google's Larry Page also invests in a research program through the Voice Health Institute, which is trying to solve his unknown vocal cord condition.

Some people will be alarmed by anything involving "Google" and "medicine" after Larry Page's flippant comments around HIPAA, but for now Calico seems to just be a research company. Plus, it's hard to decry anyone trying to cure diseases and help us all live longer.

Seriously though, my only regret about my eventual (hopefully) peaceful death of old age is that I won't see what is to come... if I could have an extended lifetime, that would be why I'd want one: to experience the future.

No mention of the irony of an anti-aging company being led by a guy who's predecessor died early?

For shame, Ars

They could offset that issue by getting a spokesperson who seems like they are so old that the grim reaper is constantly hovering over their shoulder, yet still give an appearance of being impossible to kill short of using magical weapons.

Who wants to live forever though? I mean really what benefit is there, greed aside? All your friends and relations will wither and die but you'll have your cash. There's no guarantee you'll keep that though. Currencies inflate/deflate. Countries live and die too. Me? I'd rather have 50 or 60 really good years in a healthy body, say of 25. Then either go in my sleep or a spectacular fireball over a cliff or something. Unless that's part of their plan, just adding years to END of life is not something I'd wish upon my worst enemy.

Who wants to live forever though? I mean really what benefit is there, greed aside? All your friends and relations will wither and die but you'll have your cash. There's no guarantee you'll keep that though. Currencies inflate/deflate. Countries live and die too. Me? I'd rather have 50 or 60 really good years in a healthy body, say of 25. Then either go in my sleep or a spectacular fireball over a cliff or something. Unless that's part of their plan, just adding years to END of life is not something I'd wish upon my worst enemy.

Except Scott. Scott's a dick.

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

over population problem would escalate.

At first then we would figure out how to get off this damn rock. Or we would all kill each other through war.

Anyone genuinely wondering why one would want to slow/stop/reverse aging should be blacklisted from receiving any treatments these projects produce.

As for overpopulation, there's never been more people on Earth and there's never been more food and resources available for the average person. Just as long as population growth is gradual, we're going to be fine. In many European countries and Russia, population is actually declining, so having people being healthy at an older age will be a boon to them.

Anyone genuinely wondering why one would want to slow/stop/reverse aging should be blacklisted from receiving any treatments these projects produce.

As for overpopulation, there's never been more people on Earth and there's never been more food and resources available for the average person. Just as long as population growth is gradual, we're going to be fine. In many European countries and Russia, population is actually declining, so having people being healthy at an older age will be a boon to them.

I'm okay with being blacklisted from plain-jane living forever. Like I said before. I'd rather live a normal span but live it with a perfect body than be confined to the aged, decrepit body of someone 200 or more years old. (Extrapolating from the decay I've seen in most octo- and nonagenarians I've come into contact with).

Anyone genuinely wondering why one would want to slow/stop/reverse aging should be blacklisted from receiving any treatments these projects produce.

Maybe some people just wonder why so much would be invested in making the healthy live longer, when we can't even figure out how to get the sick to live a normal life span. Cure child leukemia, then make old people live to be even older.

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

over population problem would escalate.

Birthrates are already flatlining. Consumption patterns are a bigger issue. Like, in healthcare.

I love how we work so hard to solve so many health problems for the rich, when our life expectancy is declining in, say, the American South, due to the worst healthcare system in the world ... that overwhelmingly favors the very rich. Typical Silicon Valley attitude. It's a new gilded age and they're too rich to care about solving real problems.

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

over population problem would escalate.

Birthrates are already flatlining. Consumption patterns are a bigger issue. Like, in healthcare.

I love how we work so hard to solve so many health problems for the rich, when our life expectancy is declining in, say, the American South, due to the worst healthcare system in the world ... that overwhelmingly favors the very rich. Typical Silicon Valley attitude. It's a new gilded age and they're too rich to care about solving real problems.

This is all I want (Google, are you listening?!). Make a Google implant so that when I get Alzheimer's my brain will reboot and my home screen will give me a rundown of the info I need: Gmap to get me home, photos of my family/friends, quick stats on what I need to know at the moment, maybe even a timeline of what I've been up to that day. Yeah, I'll probably have to sign an EULA saying I give them the contents of my brain, but at that point, how much is it worth? Maybe they can tease a few online sales out of my forgetful side, but hell, I'll just set up an online spending limiter on myself when I'm lucid.

I don't see Glass as a good means for this, because I could knock/break them off.

Is Ray Kurzweil involved in this? Kurzweil is Google's Director of Engineering and quite an accomplished figure. However, he is more full of himself than his accomplishments would warrant. Seems like this would be a good fit for him.

Fuck child leukemia, the survival rate is pretty high, and besides... what makes some snotty little bald twerp more valuable than anybody else? We should have indefinite lifespans so we can afford to take it easy instead of running the rat race from cradle to grave.

Think if we had been dedicating the US's defense budget to life extension research for the last 20 years.

In a weird, apocalyptic, monstrous kind of way that's exactly what we did.

Besides genetics, the biggest factor in extending people's life is having an stress-free lifestyle. It would not surprise me if those who study and measure lifespans come to the conclusion that stress kills more people than tobacco and cancer combined. Long-lifers have in common genetics and a calm outlook on things.

If you're a soldier in the trenches your life expectancy is probably short. On the other hand, if you are the politician sending those soldiers to the trenches your life expectancy is probably 10% above average. Have you seen how old our Senators are? And what an easy life they've got?

See there is a difference in preventing death and preventing aging. I'd opt for the later 100% of the time not sure if I'd want the former. As for the money issue who cares. If someone figures out how to prevent aging that is common/cheap enough to make it to my level of the economy then it is cheap enough to make it to everyone. I could see a time where people stop aging and take a few years off every 30-40 years and come back to a new job possibly in a whole new field. You give me the option to live for ever and I will most likely rotate through several job fields. Work till I have enough saved to live without working for ~10 years then take 5-6 off to do whatever add another ~4 to go get a degree in a new field then find a new job.

But we currently have no idea how to prevent aging while we do know of a few ways to slow down death.

over population problem would escalate.

What over population problem? Most of the world is still relative wilderness. Even most of China has fewer than 100 people per square kilometer. Granted, as the population increases, we will need to make more efficent use of the land, but much of the world is still far behind the US and other western nations in crop yield per acre, so there is much room for improvement. If you feel like the world is over populated, you need simply to move.

Seriously though, my only regret about my eventual (hopefully) peaceful death of old age is that I won't see what is to come... if I could have an extended lifetime, that would be why I'd want one: to experience the future.

If you're interested in extended lifetime, please look at Ads Fund, which ironically is a direct competitor to Google's advertising services, and which dedicates 50% of profits to fund work to allow the most people possible to live longer.

People from over 20 different countries use Ads Fund everyday.

People have to opt-in to see Ads Fund's adverts. You can go to learn more at adsfund.org

Ron Amadeo / Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work.